How mathematics discovered the planet Neptune

How mathematics discovered the planet Neptune

The discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846 was one of the greatest achievements in the history of astronomy. This discovery was not made by direct observation, but by using mathematics. In the 18th century, astronomers knew that the orbit of the planet Uranus did not match the predictions of Newton's law of gravity. This suggests that something is disrupting Uranus' orbit. Alexis Bouvard, a French astronomer, concluded that the disturbance was likely caused by the presence of another, as yet unknown, planet. Bouvard used mathematics to calculate the position of the unknown planet. He estimates that the planet has a mass that is about 15 times the mass of Earth and is located at a distance of about 30 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. In 1846, Urbain Le Verrier, another French astronomer, used Bouvard's calculations to point his telescope in the predicted direction. On September 23, 1846, Le Verrier managed to discover a small object moving in the night sky. The object was later identified as the planet Neptune.


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